FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 6, 2017

Contact: Chelsea Connor | cconnor@rwdsu.org | 347-866-6259

WORKERS AT PLEASURE CHEST UNANIMOUSLY VOTE TO JOIN

THE RETAIL, WHOLESALE AND DEPARTMENT STORE UNION
Workers Win Right to a Union Voice in the Face of the Largest, and Most Insensitive Anti-Union Campaign
the Industry Has Ever Seen

NEW YORK, NY Today, the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU), announced that the workers at
Pleasure Chest locations in New York City voted to be represented by the RWDSU in their fight for a voice for fair
treatment in the workplace, security protections and procedures, and fair wages through a collective bargaining
agreement. Workers at Pleasure Chest reached out to the RWDSU in the wake of the historic rights and protections won
by the union for Babeland workers earlier this year.

The RWDSUs newest members at Pleasure Chest, who are part of a predominately LGBTQ and women workforce in the
highly emotionally intimate retail stores, faced the largest union busting campaign ever launched by the industry. Workers
held strong in their convictions for representation by the RWDSU in the face of over 10 hours of captive audience
meetings at the direction of both Jackson Lewis and Labor Relations International, two union-busting consultants, by the
company.

The unanimous vote by the Pleasure Chest workers was conducted on the evening of June 29, 2017 and was certified by
the NLRB today.

The harassment and categorically tone-deaf anti-union campaign lead by Jackson Lewis and Labor Relations
International that the workers at Pleasure Chest faced is an outrage I am proud that the RWDSU will be at the
bargaining table to ensure that these workers never face that type of horrific transphobic behavior by their company
again, said Stuart Appelbaum, President, Retail, Wholesale & Department Store Union (RWDSU). This is now
the second workforce unionized in the industry and it has never been clearer that LGBTQ workers need a strong union
voice. The RWDSU is proud to work with our new members at Pleasure Chest to ensure that they have the rights and
protections they need in this highly sensitive workplace.

The company and their union-busting bafoons' blatant disregard for our gender identities during the organizing campaign
only further demonstrates the need for a united voice, which is why we've decided the RWDSU will be a strong partner in
securing safety trainings and protocols when harassment by the company or by the public takes place, said Nico
Fuentes, Sex Specialist at the 2nd Avenue Pleasure Chest.

Creating a sex positive experience for customers in the adult retail industry always comes with its own set of challenges
and emotional labor, but became even more difficult in the wake of the vehemently anti-union campaign that was staged
by the company. Now that we have won a union voice, we will have the rights, protections, and procedures in place
through a union contract that will allow us to continue to provide a sex positive message in a safer and more protected
space, said Emma Schledorn, Sales Associate at the Pleasure Chest.

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The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) represents 100,000 members throughout the United States, including
45,000 in New York State. The RWDSU is affiliated with the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW). For more
information, please visit our website at www.rwdsu.org,
Facebook:/RWDSU.UFCW Twitter:@RWDSU.

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